Overview
- Speaking at Caltech, Bill Gates reiterated that he has shifted some philanthropic focus from near‑term emissions cuts to reducing disease and malnutrition, calling it a numeric decision in a world of limited funds.
- Gates said he remains a climate activist and labeled President Trump's celebratory post a gigantic misreading, adding in an Axios interview that he is increasing funding for both climate and health.
- Climate scientists including Katharine Hayhoe, Zeke Hausfather and Daniel Swain criticized the memo for straw‑man arguments and a false dichotomy, stressing that suffering rises with each tenth of a degree of warming.
- Researchers noted that extinction is not what the science predicts, yet current trajectories still entail widespread harm, with debate intensifying ahead of COP30 and following headlines that portrayed Gates as backtracking.
- Gates emphasized technology to lower the green premium and discussed fusion, advanced nuclear and geoengineering, while Michael E. Mann warned these options could take decades and should not displace today’s clean‑energy transition.